goodenoughcaring.com is an arena for the discussion of issues of interest to parents, foster parents, residential child care workers, counsellors, youth support workers, social workers, teachers, mentors, social pedagogues, educateurs and to young people who are, and adults who have been, in care. If you are interested in, or involved in the care,upbringing and education of children and young people or in the nurturing of children and young people who are unable to live with their own families goodenoughcaring.com is a site for you. The website welcomes thoughtful views – personal, practical or theoretical – about the care of children and young people. If you want to comment about child care or about goodenoughcaring.com then e mail: goodenoughcaring@icloud.com

The goodenoughcaring.com site is archived at the British Library.

The goodenoughcaring journal is an online publication which invites anyone wishing to publish papers and articles about parenting, nurture, child care work and related fields or those wishing to write about their child care experiences to submit as e mail attachments papers or articles for publication to the editors at goodenoughcaring@icloud.com.

The members of the editorial group are Cynthia Cross, Evelyn Daniel, Siobain Degregorio, Jeremy Millar, Jane Kenny, Ariola Vishnja, Mark Smith, John Stein and Charles Sharpe. The current issue was published online on 18th, June, 2014 and the next issue will be published on December 15th, 2014. The Journal index can be found at http://www.goodenoughcaring.com/the-journal/

As they’d ask in Worksop, “Hey up, what’s going off here?” There’s a great deal of activity in the goodenoughcaring Journal bakery. In addition to those already announced in previous posts further ingredients have been added by Elaine Article and Cynthia Cross. More flavours will be blended in during the next few days.

In addition to the articles already announced by Colin Maginn, Michael J Marlowe, Alex Russon, Justin Frost, Mark Smith, Simon Blades and John Stein we are delighted to say we have received further pieces by Margaret Hughes, Noel Howard and Maurice Fenton. Others are in the pipeline. More details will appear on this page in a few days time.

This talk aims to explore themes around working therapeutically with people who live with labels of intellectual disability, autism and acquired brain injury. What are the psychological sequelae of being born with or acquiring a disability in terms of attachment and early relations? How might therapy need to be adapted to meet individual cognitive or sensory needs? What is the role of trauma in psychological distress and how might this manifest differently in people with these labels? How is power perceived and played out in our systems of care? The talk aims to provide a psychological understanding from a variety of perspectives, with special consideration for the use of Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP) for this group and their systems. Within the context of a short term, goal orientated therapy world how can we provide meaningful support which is individually tailored?

Dr Kelly Camilleri is an independent Consultant Clinical Psychologist. She qualified 19 years ago from Birmingham University and has since worked with children and adults with learning difficulty, autism, and acquired disability. Kelly has worked in a variety of sectors including the NHS, charity and the private sector. She is particularly interested in the role of attachment and trauma for the individual and their systems. Kelly is a keen proponent on the use of DDP for this group which she feels enables a dual approach focusing both on peoples internal and external worlds. She is on the Division of Clinical Psychology Southwest Committee and is the coordinator for local Psychology Against Austerity Group.

Dr Kathy McKay is a Clinical Psychologist who has worked in Learning Disability Services in the NHS since qualifying in 1995. She has also worked in Independent Practice since 2007. Settings have included community Learning Disability teams, In-patient Units and a Secure Forensic Unit. She has also worked in a CAMHS Service in a secure childrens home, and currently provides regular input into a Local Authority Family Centre to support them in taking into account a parents learning needs in their assessment and intervention processes. Kathy has provided training on attachment and trauma in learning disabilities, and further on creating attachment friendly environments in a number of the aforementioned settings. Like Kelly, Kathy has completed training in DDP, which was a driver for this area of work.

On December 15th, 2016, the new issue of the goodenoughcaring Journal will go online. Articles by Colin Maginn, Michael J Marlowe, Alex Russon, Justin Frost, Mark Smith, Simon Blades and John Stein are already confirmed. A similar number are in the pipeline and will be confirmed with more details in the coming days.

On December 15th, 2016, issue 20 of the goodenoughcaring Journal goes online. It is a special issue because it will as ever be full of original articles about aspects of childhood, but also because it will be the last scheduled issue of the Journal. New articles will continue to be posted on the Journal site as and when they are submitted, and of course all the articles from all previous the issues of the goodenoughcaring Journal will continue to be available online as an archive available to all readers. Submissions for the December issue are still welcome and will be accepted up to December 8th.

Details of the articles already submitted for this next issue will appear on this page in the next few days.

Farhad Dalal has written to us about our the next Limbus Lecture at Studio 3,The Space, Dartington Hall on November 12th, which will be presented by Margaret Lansdale. The theme of lecture is ‘The Present Moment – Cultivating embodied attunement and empathy’

It starts at 10.30 and will finish at 1pm. The cost is £20. It is possible to book online at limbus.org.uk or come and pay at the door.

If you intend to pay at the door, please arrive well before 10.30 to avoid hold ups.

Abstract:

This talk will explore how we may work more effectively in the here and now, integrating somatic, emotional and mental processes within the therapeutic process. This includes a deeper awareness of our own embodied experience and how we engage with the non-verbal forms of communication between client and therapist.

We will explore how to engage with these non-verbal processes in a mindful and compassionate way. We will also enquire into how therapists and clients can cultivate empathic presence, acceptance and equilibrium when working with complex dynamics, deeply rooted conflict or early trauma. Some key practical techniques and strategies for building a safe and supportive therapeutic alliance to help process some deeper trauma or implicit memory held in the body will also be introduced. The talk will draw on current research into the workings of the brain,attachment and emotional regulation, as well as using clinical vignettes to illustrate how these insights may translate into our therapeutic practice.

Margaret Landale is an experienced psychotherapist and supervisor. Shehas been a training director at the Chiron Centre for Body Psychotherapy in London and delivers workshops and talks nationwide on subjects such as somatization, complex trauma and embodied empathy. Having been a meditator for many years, she has become increasingly interested in the integration of mindfulness in psychotherapy and has taught on the ‘mindfulness in individual psychotherapy’ module at the Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice, Bangor University.

The Stolen Child was Inspired by articles Maurice Fenton published in recent issues of the goodenoughcaring Journal. His book portrays the stolen lives of young people in care and considers the importance of caring for young people in a human, compassionate and professional manner. Drawing on the writings of WB Yeats and Carl Jung and others the author reflects on his own work with children and young people. The Stolen Child will be reviewed in December’s issue of the goodenoughcaring Journal.

A review of Maurice Fenton’s previous book Social Care and Child Welfare in Ireland: integrating residential care, leaving care and after care can be found here.

While the theoretical roots of residential child care practice are firmly grounded in psychodynamic thinking (Bettelheim, 1950; Redl & Wineman, 1952; Winnicott & Britton, 1947), explicitly psychodynamic approaches to theorisation and practice have been declining over recent decades (Mann, 2003; Sharpe, 2006). At the same time, consensus continues to grow across professional traditions and across continents in relation to the central importance of relationships in considering the needs of children and young people in residential child care (Kendrick, Steckley, & McPheat, 2011). Psychodynamic and systems theories have explanatory power for making sense of and informing the way we do relationships in residential child care.

This special issue invites papers on residential child care that incorporate psychodynamic and systems theories thinking in their broadest sense (i.e. papers which focus on ways of understanding interpersonal and organisational processes and dynamics in residential settings for children and young people). Areas of exploration might include (but are not limited to):

the place of psychodynamics and systems theory in education and training for residential child care;

particular psychodynamic or systems theory concepts and their utility in informing practice;

synergies and/or tensions between psychodynamic and other traditions in residential childcare;

ways in which psychodynamic thinking can inform a more useful construction of ‘professional’in residential milieux;

systems theory perspectives on consultancy in residential child care;

experiences of care or practice from a psychodynamic perspective;

the impact of managerialism on individuals’ and organisations’ interpersonal processes.

Papers are strongly encouraged from practitioners and care leavers as well as academics and educators; perspectives from traditions of residential child care other than social work (e.g. child and youth care, social pedagogy, orphanages) are also warmly invited. Both shorter pieces reflecting voices from practice or care experiences (3,000 words or fewer), and longer articles (6,500 words maximum) are sought. Please consult the Journal’s Instructions for Authors http://www.tandfonline.com/action/authorSub- mission?journalCode=cjsw20&page=instructions#.Vx9-hNQguM8 for more detailed guidance.

If it would be useful to talk through your ideas for an article, I would be happy to communicate with you by e-mail, Skype or phone. Please send abstracts of 250–500 words for proposed papers (by 14 November) to: Laura.L.Steckley@strath.ac.uk

References

Bettelheim, B. (1950) Love is not enough, Free Press, NewYork, NY.

Kendrick, A., Steckley, L. & McPheat, G. (2011) ‘Residential child care: Learning from international comparisons’, in Early Professional Development for Social Workers, eds

A new essay by Charles Sharpe The nature of a residential child carer is now online in Writings. Though not intended to be a definitive statement on residential child care – in recent years a much maligned project – it describes it in a positive sense and opens aspects of its potential to help children who may not, immediately at least, be helped in a family care setting.